A stellar back half run, which included quarters of 27.2 and 27.7 seconds, took Panther Star ($2.90 favourite) to a second straight career win.

Driver Aaron Garaty made his move to the front over the final lap but didn’t relax once he hit the lead.

Instead he extended the lead of the Steve Jones-trained gelding right up until the closing strides of the race.

“The way he’s racing week in and week out it’s a credit to the trainer,” Garaty said.

“We were going pretty slow coming into the bell. The death seat was there so we worked around them. Once we got outside them we could control the speed.

“Once we got rolling down the back I didn’t want to hold him back. We just kept on going.”

There was a shock at the race’s start when two of the race’s best-backed chances, Presidential Dude ($4.70) and Crafty Cullen ($5.30), broke on the second row and tailed off the back of the field.

Line My Pockets easily held the lead from gate one. Ima Black Beauty sat directly behind the leader.

Panther Star sat sixth entering the home straight for the first time but Garaty didn’t take a liking to the speed up front.

Line My Pockets produced 30.8 and 31.8 quarters for the opening half.

Garaty urged Panther Star forward in a three-wide move and drew level with Line My Pockets at the 600m.

Panther Star didn’t settle in the death seat and instead powered ahead of his rivals towards the winning post.

Ima Black Beauty ($7.80, Bernie Hewitt) was the best of the rest, finishing 9.5 metres away from Jones’ winner.

Stitched Up ($12, Dennis Picker) won a closely contested battle for third over Jimmy Jasper.